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The latest set of RAJAR figures are out for the three months to March 30, 2025 – and there’s a big claim in the Q1 radio listening figures.
Commercial network Global has issued its numbers with the headline claim that the Heart brand is now bigger than BBC Radio 2, which has long claimed to be the nation’s most popular radio station.
Digging into the RAJARs detail, Radio 2’s announcement insisted that the station remains the “nation’s favourite”. The BBC station’s weekly listening figures were down slightly (0.9% year-on-year) to 13.11 million.
In a statement, Global said that Heart “has become the UK’s most popular radio brand, reaching 13.4 million listeners every week, powering ahead of Radio 2 for the first time”.
However, that impressive result combines the main Heart Network’s listeners with other Heart branded stations, including decade-based services (RAJAR de-duplicates the listening figures to come up with a unique listenership across the brand).
In the Q1 RAJARs, Heart Brand was up 8% year-on-year to 13.385m, while Heart Network was up 7.9% to 10.19m.
Following the implementation of the 2024 Media Act, Global stations including Heart have been able to broadcast national services from London with regional news programming, rather than having to maintain locally made programming on those radio licences. Separate services are operated in Scotland.
Clearly, it’s not comparing like with like – several different branded commercial stations with one BBC network – but the Radio 2 v Heart contest will be one to watch in subsequent quarters.
The result for the BBC station followed the launch of a new schedule in January, including Scott Mills at breakfast and Trevor Nelson at 2-4pm. The new breakfast show has lost around 360,000 listeners (down 5%) since Zoe Ball left at the end of 2024. Vernon Kay’s audience reach was also down.
Helen Thomas, head of Radio 2, said: “In a quarter which saw Radio 2 launch a new daytime schedule in late January, host some of the world’s most loved musicians in the Piano Room throughout February, and celebrate country music in March, I’m thrilled that Radio 2 remains the UK’s most popular radio station with 13.11m listeners each week. Congratulations to Vernon Kay who remains the most listened to show in the country with a weekly audience of 6.73m to his mid-morning show, and to the Radio 2 Breakfast Show, which maintains its position as the UK’s biggest early morning programme with 6.5m listeners.”
But Global – which has long crowed about its Heart brand’s dominance over Radio 1 – sees its radio brand coming out on top in Q1.
James Rea, chief broadcasting & content officer at Global, said: “What a moment it is for a commercial radio brand to be the most popular in the UK. I couldn’t be more proud of the team at Heart for all their hard work, and it’s so fantastic to see it come through in these results. Radio in the UK is thriving and it’s brilliant that Global’s brands are driving the growth. I’d like to take a moment to say a massive thank you to everyone who has helped us reach the highest market share in our history.”
BBC STATIONS
Elsewhere at the BBC, it was a fairly quiet quarter with Radio 1 up slightly (1.1% year-on-year) to 7.393m. Greg James was down 3% year-on-year at breakfast to 6.45m. Confusingly, though, the station prefers more positive figures that include younger listeners.
Aled Haydn Jones, head of BBC Radio 1, said: “We are so pleased to see increases for both Radio 1 and Greg James, showing that our curation and incredible DJs are as essential now as they’ve ever been. We remain laser-focused across all our platforms on delivering new music and celebrating pop culture across the UK.”
BBC Radio 1Xtra was down 4.5% year-on-year at 751,000, while Asian Network had a softer landing – down 2.2% at 530,000.
Newly crowned Music Week Awards winners BBC Radio 6 Music continue as the biggest digital radio station on 2.57m listeners, an increase of 1.1% year-on-year.
But the big winner among BBC music stations was Radio 3, which soared by 7.7% year-on-year to 2.15m listeners. That marks the classical station’s highest reach for Q1 period in more than a decade and overall, since the end of the pandemic in Q3 2021.
During the period, the station featured all-day celebrations marking the centenary of Pierre Boulez and 25 years of Radio 3’s New Generation Artists.
Following its arrival to BBC Sounds in November 2024, the Radio 3 Unwind stream is expected to launch on DAB+ later this year.
GLOBAL
As well as making a lot of noise about its Heart result, Global announced that it had a record 27.3% of all radio listening, with more than 29 million people consuming 281 million hours of radio.
Jamie Theakston and Amanda Holden had the highest ever listening figures at Heart Breakfast (4.3m – up 3%). The show has increased in reach, hours and share in the last quarter, which saw Theakston return after having treatment for stage one laryngeal cancer.
Capital Network surged 14.3% year-on-year to 7.14m. During the quarter Capital Breakfast with Jordan North, Chris Stark and Siân Welby had 2.76m listeners, up 8% year-on-year. Jordan North joined last April.
Capital Xtra’s main network suffered a decline of almost 6% year-on-year to 1.59m, though as Global likes to point out, the hip-hop and R&B station is well ahead of BBC Radio 1Xtra.
Capital Xtra Breakfast with Robert Bruce and Shayna Marie had 618,000 listeners, up in reach and hours in the last quarter.
The Radio X brand had its highest ever weekly reach with 2.5m listeners tuning in every week, up by 280,000 listeners in the last year. The indie/alternative station’s main network fared less well, down 3.5% year-on-year to just under two million
The Chris Moyles Show on Radio X reaches just under a million listeners at breakfast, although it suffered a rare slump in audience figures (down 14% year-on-year)
The EE Official Big Top 40 from Global is the UK’s biggest chart show and has a weekly listenership of 1.8m tuning in every week across Capital and Heart, increasing in all metrics year-on-year.
Ashley Tabor-King, founder & executive president of Global, said: “Global has been lucky enough to have the top 3 commercial radio brands in the UK for some time. Today, after over 18 years of hard work from our team and huge loyalty from our incredible listeners, Heart overtakes Radio 2 as the UK’s largest radio brand, making Heart the biggest in the UK overall. It’s a huge moment. I’m incredibly humbled, and grateful to every single Globaller and listener that’s made this possible. May we continue to turn up the feel-good and make everyone’s day brighter for many years to come. Commercial radio in the UK is so buoyant right now, with quality broadcasting that means listeners have more choice than ever before. We are truly in the golden era of commercial radio broadcasting, and so we’re exceptionally grateful to have reached this landmark moment with Heart. Congratulations to the entire team!”
BAUER MEDIA AUDIO
As Bauer Media Group marks its 150th year, the media firm’s radio stations registered 23.4m weekly listeners.
Highlights for Bauer Media Audio UK include Hits Radio and Greatest Hits Radio. When combined (the Hits Radio Portfolio) they now reach 13.1m listeners or 15.3m when partner stations are included.
The Hits Radio network secured an audience of 7.1m (up 5.7% year-on-year), with the national Hits Radio station on 4.7m (up 3.3% year-on-year).
Bauer claims Greatest Hits Radio as the most listened to commercial station in the country – although that is based on listening hours rather than the audience reach of 7.5m.
The Absolute Radio Network had a reach of 5.6m listeners (up 1.6% year-on-year). The station’s breakfast show with Dave Berry was up 4% to 2.32m.
Absolute Radio Country achieved a record 670,000 weekly listeners, up 70.9% year-on-year. It was also up 10% on the prior quarter, perhaps helped by the C2C Festival generating interest in the genre.
With 1.49m listeners, the main Kiss station appears to be in a state of flux: it’s down 34.9% year-on-year but up 37.5% on the prior quarter.
On a more positive note, Kisstory remains the No.1 digital-only commercial station with just over two million listeners (down just 2.2% year-on-year).
Simon Myciunka, CEO for Bauer Media Audio UK, said: „Our audio brands continue to captivate millions of listeners every week, showcasing our commitment to excellence and innovation. As Bauer celebrates its 150th year, we look to the future with a steadfast focus on enhancing our products, increasing investment to strengthen audience engagement and creating gold-standard opportunities for our commercial partners.”
Gary Stein, director of Audio for Bauer Media Audio UK, said: “In a quarter where we continue to invest in our brands and talent, it’s brilliant to see our new lineup on Magic Radio already attracting new listeners – on the very day we launch a brand-new nationwide marketing campaign for the station.
“There’s also great news for the UK’s most listened-to commercial radio station, Greatest Hits Radio, as the network posts its highest-ever hours and share. A huge thank you to all our teams for the care and effort that goes into making our stations the soundtrack to our listeners’ lives – each and every day.”
Elsewhere, Virgin Radio pulled in 1.398m listeners (down 7% year-on-year). Chris Evans’ Breakfast Show was down 13% year-on-year at 776,000.
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